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Jay White
| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = | trainer = UK Kid NJPW Dojo | debut = February 19, 2013 | retired = }} Jay White (October 10, 1992) is a New Zealander professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Early career (2013–2014) White initially trained under The UK Kid at Varsity Pro Wrestling in early 2013, and made his professional debut on 19 February, working for VPW as well as All Star Wrestling, among other promotions. In early 2014, White met New Japan Pro Wrestling's Prince Devitt and competed alongside him in a tag team match for VPW. After the match, Devitt gave White his card and told him to keep in touch. Shortly thereafter, White was contacted by Bad Luck Fale, who said that Devitt had spoke to NJPW officials about White and that he could get him a place as a young lion in the dojo if he wanted it. Several months later, White met with Fale, Devitt, and Shinsuke Nakamura in London, where White accepted their offer and began finalizing his visa to leave for the NJPW dojo. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2015–2016) White left for Japan on New Year's Eve 2014, began further training as a young lion upon his arrival, and made his debut for NJPW on 30 January 2015, losing to Alex Shelley. White lost all but eight of his matches in 2015, as is common for young lions in NJPW. In 2016, White began gaining more victories, and on 27 March competed in his biggest match to date when he was defeated by then-reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega in a non-title match. White's final match in NJPW took place on 19 June 2016 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, when he, David Finlay Jr., and Juice Robinson were defeated by Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Manabu Nakanishi White left for his excursion to the United States the following week. Foreign excursion (2016–2017) Upon moving to the United States, White was first based in New Jersey, before moving to Detroit, where he lived with Alex Shelley. White debuted in Ring of Honor (ROH) at the 25 June TV tapings, defeating Kamaitachi by disqualification and teaming with The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) to defeat Kamaitachi and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian). White and The Motor City Machine Guns eventually formed a stable named "Search and Destroy" with Jonathan Gresham and Lio Rush. On 8 July, White defeated Lio Rush. At the next set of TV tapings, White defeated Will Ferrara and wrestled Jay Briscoe to a time limit draw. White debuted for England's Revolution Pro Wrestling on 12 August 2016, defeating Josh Bodom. On 19 August, White competed in a fatal four-way match against Kamaitachi, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak, which was won by Dijak. The following day, White and Rush were defeated by The Briscoe Brothers. White returned to RPW on 26 August, defeating Mark Haskins. On 30 September, White teamed with Kushida and ACH to defeat The Briscoes and Toru Yano in a quarter final match in the ROH Trios Tag Team Championship Tournament. White, ACH, and Kushida then defeated The Cabinet (Rhett Titus, Kenny King, and Caprice Coleman) in the semi-finals, but were defeated by The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia, and TK O'Ryan) in the final at Final Battle. White competed once again for RPW on January 21, 2017, defeating Martin Stone. On June 6, White received his biggest title opportunity in his career when after winning a Battle Royal he unsuccessfully challenged Christopher Daniels for The ROH World Championship in a triple threat match. At Best in the World 2017 White, teaming with Search and Destroy defeated The Rebellion in a losers must disband match thus keeping the group together. Return to NJPW (2017–present) On November 5, 2017, at Power Struggle, White returned to NJPW as the mysterious "Switchblade", who had been teased for the past several months, challenging Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, before attacking him. The following day, NJPW officially announced the match between Tanahashi and White for Wrestle Kingdom 12. On January 4, White was defeated by Tanahashi in the title match. On January 5, Jay teased joining Bullet Club; however, White then betrayed Kenny Omega by attacking him with a Blade Runner. A day later he joined the Chaos faction in order to face off against Bullet Club and Kenny Omega, claiming he needed backup in his fight against Bullet Club. On January 28 at the New Beginning in Sapporo, White defeated Omega to become the second IWGP United States Champion in the title's history. On March 25, he went on to defend the title for the first time against Hangman Page at NJPW Strong Style Evolved Event in Long Beach, California. White would make his second successful title defence against David Finlay at Road to Dontaku. White would make his third defense of the title beating Punishment Martinez during the ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Tour in Toronto, Canada. At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, White suffered a pin fall loss in a tag team match to Juice Robinson. Because of this, White defended but lost the title to Juice at the G1 Special in San Francisco. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Kiwi Krusher'' (Outside leghook fisherman driver) **''Blade Runner'' / Shellshock (Swinging reverse STO) – adopted from Alex Shelley *'Signature moves' ** Boston crab ** Crossface ** Dropkick, sometimes from the top rope ** Knife edge chop ** Lariat ** Leaping followed with back elbow to an oncoming opponent ** Multiple suplex variations *** Butterfly *** Saito *** Sleeper *** Snap, into the turnbuckle ** Running Death Valley driver ** Running European uppercut, to a cornered opponent ** Ura-nage *'Tag teams and stables' *'Nicknames' **'"Switchblade"' **'"Knife Pervert"' *'Entrance themes' **"Crossbody" by Yonosuke Kitamura **'"Switchblade"' by Yonosuke Kitamura Championships and accomplishments *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' **IWGP United States Championship (1 time) **IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time) *''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' ** Ranked No. #'44' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2018 *''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' **5 1/2 Star Match (2019) vs. Kota Ibushi on August 12 External links * Profile Category:New Zealand wrestlers Category:2013 debuts Category:Living people Category:1992 births Category:All Star Wrestling alumni Category:Varsity Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Union Of European Wrestling Alliances alumni Category:Ultimate Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Wrestling Stars alumni Category:Impact Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Male wrestlers Category:Ring of Honor alumni Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling current roster Category:IWGP United States Champions Category:IWGP Heavyweight Champions Category:IWGP Intercontinental Champions